Although Byrom is clearly the author of the epigram, the last two lines have also been attributed to Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope.[1] Although the rhyme in its familiar form was not printed until around 1805, when it appeared in Original Ditties for the Nursery, it is possible that Byrom was drawing on an existing rhyme.[4]

Lewis Carroll and John Tenniel

The characters are perhaps best known from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice Found There. Carroll, having introduced two fat little men named Tweedledum and Tweedledee, quotes the nursery rhyme, which the two brothers then go on to enact. They agree to have a battle, but never have one. When they see a monstrous black crow swooping down, they take to their heels. The Tweedle brothers never contradict each other, even when one of them, according to the rhyme, "agrees to have a battle". Rather, they complement each other's words. This fact has led Tenniel to assume that they are twins also physically, and Gardner goes so far as to claim that Carroll intended them to be enantiomorphs, i.e., three-dimensional mirror images. Evidence for these assumptions cannot be found in any of Lewis Carroll's writings.[4]

Disney

1951

As Alice follows the white rabbit, she gets lost. Tweedledum & Tweedledee stumble upon her as they lurk out of the shadows. Alice greets them but states she must be on her way. Tweedledum & Tweedledee want to play, suggesting numerous games. When she declines they ask her why, and she replies "Because I'm curious".

Tweedledum & Tweedledee begin to weep, whispering "The oysters were curious too...". After Alice persists that she wants to know, (and as they smile to each other menacingly) they narrate the tale of the The Walrus and the Carpenter to Alice. After they're done, they want to play again. They begin playing with each other as Alice slips away unnoticed by the two.

The two appear identical in every way. They finish each other's sentences and make very odd movements with their bodies; such as jumping extremely high in the air and wobbling their legs as if they were noodles. They seem as if they have a devious motive because they smile menacingly to each other a few times throughout the course of the scene they appear in.

Tweedledum & Tweedledee are often represented by actors in Disney theme Parks. The Disney versions of the characters later made frequent appearances in the Disney television series House of Mouse and can also be spotted during the final scene of Who Framed Roger Rabbit.[6]

2010

In the 2010 film, Tweedledum and Tweedledee are portrayed by Matt Lucas, whose face was digitally added to the bodies of both Tweedledum and Tweedledee.[7]
In the film, Tweedledum and Tweedledee are seen walking with Alice in the wilderness of Wonderland and being taken away by the Jubjub bird. They are also shown hitting each other as in the 1951 Disney film. In the video game adaptation of the film, they make infrequent appearances as obstacles. The player must give the duo aid in whatever game they're playing in order to gain a bag of impossible ideas (the game's currency) and some information that will become useful later on.

Other references in popular culture

Script errorIn literature and letters

In a letter to Harriet Shaw Weaver the writer James Joyce uses the twins "Tweedledum and Tweedledee" to characterize Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung and their conflict: "... a certain Doctor Jung (the Swiss Tweedledum who is not to be confused with the Viennese Tweedledee, Dr. Freud) ..." (James Joyce: Letter to Harriet Shaw Weaver. 24 June 1921).

In the show Arrested Development (2003-6), Michael Bluth makes reference to Tweedledee and Tweedledum, after which the narrator explains that Michael did not "mean it in that way...how could he? He didn't even know."[1]

In the SyFy TV Miniseries Alice, the twins are called Dr. Dee and Dr. Dum, and are a cross between mad scientists and torturers who use illusions to extract information from their victims.

In the manga Heart No Kuni No Alice, Tweedledee and Tweedledum are recognised as guards for Blood Dupre's Mansion.

In the video game Tales of Vesperia, protagonist Yuri Lowell often refers to two incompetent knights named Adecor and Boccus as Tweedle A and Tweedle B, to which Boccus generally responds, 'Just what is a Tweedle, anyway?'

Helen Keller, the first deafblind recipient of a Bachelor of Arts degree and a prolific writer and left-wing activist said this of democracy in the US. "Our democracy is but a name. We vote? What does that mean? It means that we choose between two bodies of real, though not avowed, autocrats. We choose between Tweedledum and Tweedledee." [4]